Disproportionately impacted community permitting rule

Please note: If you would like to request a Spanish interpretation, please email cdphe_apcd_outreach@state.co.us.
Tenga en cuenta: Si desea solicitar interpretación al español, envíe un mensaje por correo electrónico a cdphe_apcd_outreach@state.co.us.

The Air Quality Control Commission adopted the disproportionately impacted community permitting rule in May 2023. As part of implementing the new rule, the Air Pollution Control Division convened a panel of subject matter experts. The panel will support the development of an air monitoring guidance document. The guidance will serve as a valuable resource for pollution sources that must conduct enhanced air monitoring. During monthly meetings from fall 2023 to spring 2024, the panel will discuss technical recommendations for enhanced air monitoring. Topics will include:

• Which reasonably available technologies can monitor the air pollutants in the rule.
• Evaluations of the available air monitoring technologies.
• Air monitor placement and operational requirements.
• Data collection and transmission processes. 
• Reporting and sharing requirements for air pollution data.

Division staff will help facilitate the panel’s monthly meetings. The division will consider the panel’s findings, recommendations, and best practices for air quality monitoring and incorporate them into a guidance document. The division and the panel will finalize the guidance document before the deadline for sources to begin enhanced monitoring on July 15, 2024.

Public participation opportunities

Technical panel meetings

The panel’s monthly technical meetings will be open to the public. Each meeting will be about two hours long. These meetings will include opportunities for public comment. The meetings will primarily focus on technical discussions among the panelists. The meetings will be hybrid, held on zoom and in-person at Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The dates for the technical panel meetings will be:

• Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, 1 - 3 p.m.
  • Register to join the Feb. 26 meeting virtually.
• Monday, March 25, 2024, 1 - 3 p.m.
  • Register to join the March 25 meeting virtually.
• Monday, April 22, 2024, 1 - 3 p.m.
  • Register to join the April 22 meeting virtually.
• Monday, May 20, 2024, 1 - 3 p.m.
  • Register to join the May 20 meeting virtually.

 

Past meetings 

• Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, 1 - 3 p.m.
  • Meeting recording.
• Monday, Dec. 18, 2023, 1 - 3 p.m.
  • Meeting recording
• Monday, Nov. 27, 2023, 1 - 3 p.m.
  • Meeting recording.

 

Public informational sessions

In addition to the panel's technical monthly meetings, the division will host two public informational sessions in 2024. During these sessions the division will help explain the panel’s progress and decisions, provide opportunity for additional public comment, and answer questions. The dates for the public informational sessions will be:

Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024, 6 - 8 p.m. 

• Register to join the Feb. 6 meeting virtually.

Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 6 - 8 p.m.  

• Register to join the May 21 meeting virtually.

Meet the panel

The division is grateful to have a panel with diverse air quality monitoring expertise. This will ensure balanced and comprehensive recommendations for the air monitoring guidance. All panelists have graciously volunteered their time. 

Name	Affiliation
Tim Dye	TD Environmental Services
Tim Dye has over 30 years of experience in air quality monitoring, data management, and public communication. A visionary and entrepreneur, he has created air quality applications that vividly communicate air quality conditions. Tim is respected as an independent voice in the air monitoring community. Tim works in many areas of air quality: 1) low-cost, air quality sensor evaluation and deployment, 2) air quality monitoring, 3) data management and analytics, and 4) community science applications. He is regularly sought out for his wide-ranging and strategic insights on air quality sensing by foundations, NGOs, government, industry, and companies worldwide.
Austin Heitmann	Montrose
Mr. Heitmann brings 8 years of expertise in overseeing technology development, air monitoring programs, and continuous emissions monitoring system (CEMS) installations. His proficiency extends to ambient, fenceline, and source CEMS integration for diverse North American projects. He excels in cost-effective ambient air sensor development for community and industry-based monitoring. Mr. Heitmann's adeptness in interpreting and communicating data proves invaluable to clients. He's led numerous projects adhering to EPA methods, employing various technologies like FTIR, UV-DOAS, and TDL. He's installed and managed monitoring systems for diverse compounds.
Brendan Lawlor	Denver Department of Public Health and Environment
Brendan Lawlor is the air quality analyst for the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment (DDPHE) and oversees the Love My Air program’s air quality sensor network that monitors and reports the levels of air pollution in different areas of Denver. He combines his experience in environmental health and data analysis to find effective ways to improve the air quality and raise awareness among the public. He is motivated by his passion for tackling environmental issues and improving health outcomes.
Kate Hoag	Bay Area Air Quality Management District
Kate Hoag works at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District with a team focused on air monitoring study design and data analysis. This work encompasses the agency’s regulatory and source-oriented air monitoring programs and also community-partnered air monitoring programs such as California’s Assembly Bill 617. Prior to joining the Air District in 2015, she worked at Region 9 EPA and the School of Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill. Kate earned a MS in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University and a Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Science from UC Berkeley.
Cassie Archuleta	City of Fort Collins
Cassie Archuleta is a Lead Air Quality Specialist for the City of Fort Collins, and has been working on the City’s air quality programs for the past 8 years. Prior to that, she received a masters degree in Atmospheric Science from CSU and worked for more than a decade as a consultant on air quality monitoring and policy projects for Federal Land Management Agencies, including the NPS, FS and BLM. For the City of Fort Collins, she has worked on monitoring, engagement and policy initiatives related to pollution sources and mitigation strategies.
Shelly Miller	University of Colorado Boulder
Dr. Shelly L. Miller is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and faculty in the Environmental Engineering Program at the University of Colorado Boulder, holding an M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from University of California, Berkeley, and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Harvey Mudd College.  Dr. Miller studies urban air quality and works diligently to understand the impact of air pollution on public health and the environment. She is an expert on indoor environmental quality, airborne infectious disease transmission, air pollution and air cleaning technologies, and assessing and mitigating urban air pollution exposures in underserved communities. Dr. Miller is a member of the Academy of Fellows of the International Society for Indoor Air and Climate (ISIAQ) and is also an Associate Editor for Environmental Science and Technology. Dr. Miller has published over 100 peer reviewed articles on air quality including timely papers on COVID-19 transmission and control and is the principal investigator on the National Science Foundation’s Social Justice and Environmental Equity Project in Denver (SJEQDenver.com).
Jamie Valdez	Mothers Out Front
Jamie is a multicultural native of Pueblo, Colorado and a parent and grandparent with education in Electronics Technology and Psychology. He began his environmental justice work in 2015 as a volunteer Digital Organizer and has since expanded the scope of his work. He is now the Colorado Senior Organizer for a mother-founded, mother-led environmental justice organization called Mothers Out Front, working toward the goal of a livable climate for all children. He also serves as an appointed member of Colorado’s Environmental Justice Action Task Force. Jamie’s organizing background is primarily in racial and economic justice movements and he considers environmental justice a natural progression that’s become a passion. He therefore approaches all his work with equity, justice, and inclusivity in mind.
Michael Ogletree	Air Pollution Control Division, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Michael Ogletree is the Division Director for the Air Pollution Control Division (APCD) of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). Michael Ogletree is an experienced leader with a passion for using technology to create positive change. Since being with Air Pollution Control Division, Mr. Ogletree has been instrumental in major initiatives that focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from trucks and cars and prioritizing the uptake of zero-emission vehicles, creating strides towards public protections from toxic air contaminants, prioritizing Environmental Justice communities in engagement and permitting decisions, improving data transparency, and integrating the next-generation of air monitoring technology. Mr. Ogletree is dedicated to making a difference and creating a better future for us all.

Press releases

November 7, 2023: State health department announces diverse technical panel to support development of new, enhanced air monitoring guidance

In May 2023, the Air Quality Control Commission adopted updates to Regulation Number 3 in response to Colorado’s Environmental Justice Act. Updates in the new rule include:

• Additional required modeling and monitoring for air pollution sources in disproportionately impacted communities. These include communities of color, low-income residents, and communities already being harmed by pollution.
• Pollution reduction requirements for air pollution sources in communities overburdened by pollution. These are known as cumulatively impacted communities.

The new requirements apply to stationary sources of these air pollutants:

• Volatile organic compounds.
• Fine particulate matter.
• Nitrogen oxides. 
• Benzene.
• Ethylbenzene.
• Toluene.
• Xylene. 

Pollution sources impacted by the rule must meet one or more of these requirements:

• Include an environmental justice summary in permit applications.
• Complete enhanced permit modeling.
• Conduct enhanced air monitoring.
• Use reasonably available control technology to reduce air pollution if in a cumulatively impacted community. 

Past engagement opportunities for the rulemaking process

The Air Pollution Control Division held several meetings in late 2022 as part of the rulemaking process. Feedback from these meetings helped inform the division’s disproportionately impacted community permitting rule proposal. The rulemaking process is complete as of May 2023. 

 

Thursday, Dec. 19, 2022.

• Private community conversation in Commerce City, CO.

Thursday, Dec.8, 2022.

• Private community conversation in Pueblo, CO.

Friday, Dec.2, 2022.

• Private technical workshop.

Saturday, Oct.29, 2022.

• Public meeting.
• October 2022 meeting recording.
• October 2022 meeting presentation.

Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.

• Private technical workshop. 

Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022.

• Public meeting.
• September 2022 meeting recording.
• September 2022 meeting presentation.

Press releases

May 18, 2023: Enhanced protections adopted for communities disproportionately impacted by air pollution

January 24, 2023: Community feedback helps shape proposed air pollution protections for frontline communities

September 16, 2022: State welcomes community involvement in developing a plan to advance environmental justice